yellow jackets

Well I saw my first yellow jacket nest of the year. Luckly I saw them at the edge of some bushes from my mower. A place that I would have soon weedeated. Whew! Good time to start walking your yards before cutting. Nothing like an attack from these bees to ruin your week and maybe kill you if you are allergic.

in my area, they nest in the ground. you mow one week, nothing. the next week you get banged on real hard.<p>In '97 I got into 'em 5 times. stung dozens of times. it was a really bad year.<p>I only got hit once last year, and by a wood hornet which was about 2 inches long. I thought I was gonna die!<p>august and september are the worst months here.<p>GEO

You have had about the same luck as I have had Geo. One time I was mowing around a yard and I saw these bumble bees nesting in the ground. They had a wide yellow streak on their backs. Larger streaks than usual. Well that was while I was mowing. I had forgotten about them by the time i had started trimming. I hit the whole where they were at. I saw this shadow on the ground of 2 large objects lol I looked up and there hovering were these 2 large bumble bees(and I use to think they were not agressive. Well i started running and swinging the weedeater at them. They chased me like japanese zeros. They had great team work. One went under my shirt and stung me. Some years I have been stung so much. That I dream about them coming out of my bed. Now I scan each yard and trees and try to spot them first. Doesnt always work. But I have avoided many nest that way. The worst place to be stung is on the earlobe. I fell off my tractor after that one.

Hello,<p>At work, all our trucks are painted 'fluorescent' highway road department yellow.<p>They are like 'ice cream cones' to yellow jackets.<p>We only use the trucks every so often, but when we do, look out! Every other month they seem to build a nest somewhere in them.<p>If you are lucky, you spot the nest,usually between the door jam when you open it up and are able to spray them.<p>Most the time however, they 'Hide Out' for a while, wait for you to get in the truck, start it up, and then start driving, and then bam. Come out of now where and swarm you while you are trying to drive down the road doing 30 with 6 yards of dirt in the pack. <p>steveair<br>

Mike,<br>What does the baking soda do?<p>Anyone,<br>Are the &quot;africanized killer bee's&quot; in the South? For the longest time the news reports were saying they would spread across the country. Or are these &quot;yellow jackets&quot; the killer bee's? They sound aggressive. I know the difference between bumble bees, but not Hornets, Wasps or Yellow Jackets.<p>The nightmare about the Bee's was funny.

I'd have to say the eye is the worst place to get stung.<br>Last year Matt was trimming some hedges.<br>The next thing I know I heard him scream. By the time I got there, he was on the ground rolling around holding his eye.<br>A yellow jacket had stung him right in the eye.<p>He yelled for me to get him the cooler so he could put ice on it.<p>Well the customer must have heard the commotion. She came out to see what was going on.<p>She is over 80 years old, hard of hearing, and walks with a cane and has a hard time getting around.<p>By the time I get back with the water, I find the customer sitting on the ground watching Matt roll around, and she is laughing. I mean laughing hard. I can still picture this in my mind today. How she was even able to get down to the grass is beyond me.<p>It took him awhile to get up. When he did, he just got up and told the customer he wouldn't be back to trim the rest of that hedge until the nest of yellow jackets was gone. <br>She never complained, and the hedge didn't get finished till about a month later.<p>Matt's eye was swollen shut for almost a week. It was painful just to have to look at it.<p><br>Jodi

I was hoping NOT to hear that for at least another month.<br>Wife was helping last summer & rode over the nest without noticing, & on next stripe on way back they got her. About 10-20 of them, & darned if she didn't run 100 yds away from the nest- they still would absolutely not leave her alone until they stung her! Pissed me off plenty! Couldn't swat at them very well<p>----------<br>Smitty ô¿ô<br>

Got lit up yesterday(6-5) did not see nest in the ground, actually past that spot 3 times!!! Got stung once on right ring finger, once on right forearm and last but not least, on right side of neck just below ear. I have never swoll up like this before and it is still throbbing this A.M. The last one (on the neck) waited until I was loading my mower and that was 10 to 15 yards away!!!!!!! So everyone please be real careful they are MEAN!!